New system build, first time builder..many questions.

[Ralec]

Howdy all, been a lurker here for a while, but never built anything so never needed to join. I am building a new gaming tower that will be a huge upgrade for me.

using a Coolermaster HAF 922 case
corsair tx750w PSU
i5-750 processor (stock HSF)
Gigabyte p55-ud4p mobo
sapphire hd 4890
WD 750gig 32mb cache HDD
some LG optical drive

Anyhow, that's the basics. I have never built a system before, I have many items installed, but have a few questions. No power has been applied yet, by the way.

The manuals included with this stuff are not very informative.

1. PSU, which way should the fan face? Up or down? Is it supposed to pull air from inside the case, or suck air in from outside? There is venting on the bottom of the case for the fan.

2. Case fans. What should I plug them in to? They came with those 4 prong female connectors (two on each fan attached to a smaller plug)? There are fan plug ins on the mobo, but is that what I want, or should they be directly plugged into the similar looking 4 prong plugs that I have an abundance of coming out of my PSU?

3. on the Intel HSF, should the wire be in the little "cage" around the fan? it is wrapped up in there in the box, but the manual pictures showed it out.

4. On the PSU again, do I want to hook up my optical drive and my HDD on the same cable (they have multiple sata connectors) or do I want to use separate "cords" for each?

5. I am having a hell of a time hooking all of the wires up to the mobo. No idea which wire goes in where. Not labeled very well on the board or in the manual. Probably easy if you know what the stuff is, but I clearly do not.

That is all for now.

 

[tecmo34]

I would recommend taking a quick read/review of my Step-by-Step sticky in my signature...

Onto your questions:
1) With the case having a bottom vent, it doesn't matter. I normally have my fan facing up, so it is sucking the Hot air out of the case.

2) I would recommend plugging the into your Molex connectors on the PSU versus your motherboard.

3) If you can plug the connector into the motherboard like how it is, it is good to go. If you can't plug it in, than you will have to unwrap the wire.

4) I recommend separate wires 1) It helps with cable management within the case 2) Just my personnel preference to have the hard drive on it's own.

5) Your case wires should say; PWR, HD LED, RESET or similar descriptions. Review the motherboard manual and it will show you were each of the labled case wires go... It is there in the manual, just read through it.

 

[Ralec]

on #5, I have read that part, just having trouble matching the wires in the case to the plugs on the mobo. Some of the front panel things do not seem to match up.

Thanks for the advice, I will keep on after it.

 

[tecmo34]

Your case has the standard "power" buttons, which go on in a small cluster on your mobo. Next you have a USB header that plugs into the first USB connector on your board, which is the same method for the 1394 header. Your e-sata cable just plugs into your mobo's SATA ports (hard drive should be SATA0).